7 Signs of Gutter Damage on Your Home
If you’re like many people, your rain gutters aren’t something you really worry about. They need regular gutter cleaning, but besides that, their functionality is very simple.
It’s not until rain gutters aren’t doing what they’re supposed to that you realize just how important they are!
WHAT DO GUTTERS DO?
Gutters and downspouts go virtually unnoticed on most roofs in Newton. They blend into the exterior unless the homeowner decided on copper or wood … materials that are designed to stand out! Most are made of durable but lightweight aluminum or vinyl siding.
The point of gutters is to provide a path of minimal resistance for rain and snow to get off your roof. When they’re in good condition, your rain gutters will route runoff away from the home’s foundation and landscaping, protecting your home’s exterior from mold and mildew, the foundation and basement from leaks, and the rain gutters themselves from rust.
When gutters are damaged, it can lead to thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to your house and surrounding property.
ARE YOUR GUTTERS DAMAGED?
Gutter damage is too simple to fix to be the reason for major home repairs! Keeping an eye on your gutters is simple and safe. If you identify any of the following signs, it’s a pretty strong indication that your rain gutters have some kind of damage.
Once you identify a possible gutter issue, you can decide if it’s something you feel comfortable repairing or remedying by yourself or if it’s a project you’d rather call a gutter specialist for.
Sitting Water Near Your Home
Pooling water is a good sign that your gutters or downspouts are not directing the rain runoff away from your house the way they are supposed to. Standing water can cause mold, weakening of your foundation, and provides the perfect habitat for pesky mosquitoes. And, it will make the areas surrounding your home perpetually soggy and muddy.
Mold or Mildew
Mold or mildew is a sign of gutter damage, whether you see mold or mildew on the gutters or on the exterior of your home. Mold and mildew mean that there is too much moisture in that area – a potential problem with the rain gutters could be to blame. Keep in mind that mold and mildew are more likely to appear on the north side of a home anyway, so if that’s where these substances are growing, it may just be because that area gets very little direct sunlight on it. This is a scenario where the advice and expertise of a gutter specialist in Newton would be helpful.
Rain Pouring Over the Gutter
You’ll need to wait until it’s actually raining to find this gutter problem. Hopefully this doesn’t mean your gutters are damaged. It could just be that the gutter is clogged with debris and needs to be cleaned out. In either case, you need to have it checked ASAP.
Basement Leaks
Based on the construction of your home’s basement, the leaking might be caused by any number of things. The standing water problem we discussed earlier could definitely cause a basement leak. Egress windows and cinder block walls can only block out so much water. That’s why it is important to keep your gutters in working order!
Landscaping or Lawn Damage
Gutters pour directly onto the ground most of the time, and landscaping should be laid out to work with this flow of water to help it submerge into the ground. However, a leaking gutter or clogged gutter will cause rainfall to overflow or pool where it isn’t supposed to. This standing rain water can kill plants by force or by overwatering. It might also displace flower bed building materials like mulch or rock.
Water Marks
Water marks are the first sign that there is too much moisture on a surface. Water marks are left behind even if standing water has evaporated or dissipated. You will usually see water marks beneath the rain gutters or directly behind the downspouts. This is a usually an indication that rain water is streaming down the outside of the gutters and not staying inside of them.
Visible Gutter Damage
The last sign of gutter damage is the easiest to spot. If your gutters are bent, sagging or cracked, they obviously have damage. After a storm, it’s a smart idea to walk around your house to assess any damage to the roof shingles, exterior, and rain gutters. These inspections are in addition to any routine home inspections.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GUTTERS?
Here are a couple of simple tips Nifty Newton Gutters recommends to help prevent gutter damage:
Clean your gutters at least once each year. You can extend the time between gutter repairs by having them cleaned out. As with anything else, the better you care for your gutters, the less issues you’ll have with them.
The best time to clean gutters is in the spring, but to be extra cautious, give them a good cleaning in the fall, too. Most homeowners clean their gutters themselves, but there are professional gutter cleaning companies that provide this service so you don’t have to handle the mess or the risk.
Check your gutters often. Signs of damage can be visible from the outside of the gutters. A fast inspection – with both feet firmly on the ground – should reveal any of the problems we wrote about above.
We’d recommend that you complete an exterior home inspection at the end of each season to ensure that your gutters are functioning the right way.
When you see signs of gutter damage, act fast. Taking care of a problem before it becomes too bad can save you time and money. A small crack, for example, can be sealed, or the section of gutter with the crack can easily be replaced very affordably and quickly.
But, if you let the issue go on too long, you could end up making repairs in your basement, replacing expensive vinyl siding or redoing an entire area of landscaping.